BY Mian Abrar
ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan reels from yet another terrorist attack in Lahore – where a suicide bomber struck Police officials on Monday – the year’s summer has proved to be fatal for the armed forces as well as minority groups. Especially, The Shia Muslims have been a major target of the bloodthirsty terrorists.Of the terrorist attacks, ten have been gun attacks, six have been suicide bombings, while two attacks have been achieved by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).As per data collected by Jinnah Institute, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, a total of 18 terrorist attacks were reported between May 5 and July 24 of the year 2017, which claimed 205 innocent lives with the worst of attacks targeting Pakistan’s Shia community in Parachinar which left 72 people martyred, and over 200 injured.Patterns suggest that terrorists attack Pakistan and Afghan bordering areas.This provides credence to Islamabad’s...

By Amanda Hoskins, WALB Reporter
ALBANY, GA (WALB) Law enforcement officials from across South Georgia are learning how to keep our streets safer. Albany State University hosted the United States Secret Service for an anti-terrorism conference on Tuesday. Members of the secret service spoke with officers about several terrorism related topics. That includes terrorism trends and behavior-based approaches officers should follow. Members of the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office attended the training. Captain Craig Dodd said he thinks with all of the violence nationwide, the training is more important now more than ever. "There's a lot of things you can pick up just from talking to someone in an interview," explained Dodd. "They may not be someone you are actually going to arrest, but a person of interest. And this helps you know what to look for."Members of the Albany and Dougherty county police departments, as well as Lee county law...

by Klisman Murati - Global Risk InsightsFollowing a string of deadly terrorist attacks, Prime Minister Theresa May is pressed to formulate a coherent counter-terrorist policy aimed at preventing future violent acts while preserving civil liberties.An independent watchdog slammed Prime Minister Theresa May’s latest move on counterterrorism in early July, comparing her plans to fine tech companies for failing to delete extremist content to those of a Chinese dictator. Max Hill, QC, warned such a move could force companies like Google and Facebook “offside” rather than encouraging more collaboration – making it even more difficult to track down dangerous material online.Tensions regarding counter-terrorism policiesThis is only the most recent counterterrorism proposal that has come under fire. Critics have slammed May’s latest four-part counter-extremism plan, announced after the London Bridge attacks, for doubling down on the same failed policies of surveillance, distrust, and infringements on basic rights. The package included measures to...

by Terror-Alert.com
Interpol has revealed a list of 173 ISIS jihadists suspected of being a part of a specially trained branch whose exclusive role is to launch terrorist attacks all across Europe, writes France 24According to Interpol, the terrorist organization is currently trying to reach Europe as part of a counter-offensive plan set up by ISIS shortly after they lost Mosul, the Iraqi metropolis where the jihadists proclaimed the Caliphate in 2014.The controversial list was created by consulting the basis of information gathered by the US secret services during the Iraqi theater operations and the ones performed on the Syrian front.The European counter-terrorism officials are very worried about this potential “revenge” plan, even if there is still no clear information that any of the fighters mentioned in the Interpol list would have arrived in Europe.Interpol argues that ISIS combatants may have been “trained to create and place improvised explosive devices...

KQED
By Alex Emslie
An Oakland man facing federal criminal charges, including attempting to support a terrorism organization, described plans to attack several targets in San Francisco and the East Bay, according to recently unsealed audio of a detention hearing late last year.At the time, then 21-year-old Amer Sinan Alhaggagi was facing a single charge of aggravated identity theft, and the judge said that defendants with similar charges would normally be considered for pre-trial release.But prosecutors were still building a case against Alhagaggi based on electronic communication and a face-to-face meeting with an undercover FBI agent in which he relayed plans for multiple attacks.The communication started in late July, 2016, Assistant U.S. Attorney Waqar Hasib said at the hearing in December, when Alhagaggi was trading messages with an unidentified FBI source about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — known as ISIS or ISIL.
Read more: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/07/24/man-charged-with-attempting-to-support-terrorism-talked-about-attacking-s-f-east-bay-targets/...

Daily Mail
Queensland police 'swamped' with monitoring up to 150 terror suspects - and warn they need more money to prevent an attack
Queensland police are claimed to be monitoring 100-150 terror suspects
The list of potential suspects ranges in age, sex and employment status
Police Union President has called for extra resources to help monitor suspects
By Riley Morgan For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press
Queensland counter terrorism police have revealed it is 'swamped' over monitoring more than 100 suspects across the state and have demanded more money for resources.The list of potential terrorism suspects range in age, sex and employment status, but the Queensland police claim the physical and digital surveillance needed to prevent an incident demands more money into high-tech resources.Suspects are on the list because of intelligence, behaviour or their associates and family and police are believed to fear they could become attackers or financiers...

Explosion strikes bus carrying mining industry employees near home of deputy government Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqiqby Hamid Shalizi, James Mackenzie - Independent UK
A suicide attacker has detonated a car bomb in the western part of Kabul, killing at least 24 people and wounding 40, and the death toll could rise, an Interior Ministry spokesman in the Afghan capital said.Police cordoned off the area, located near the house of the deputy government Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqiq in a part of the city where many of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara community live, but they said the target of the attack was so far unclear.A small bus owned by the Ministry of Mines had been destroyed, government security sources said.Acting Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said at least 24 people had been killed and 40 wounded but the casualty toll could rise further.​Salim Rasouli, director of the city's hospitals, said at least 13...

by Soeren Kern • Gatestone Institute "I am in fundamental disagreement with these left-wing people who do everything to dissociate fundamentalism from Islam. Islam has been radicalized for fifty years. On the Shiite side, there was Imam Khomeini and his Islamic revolution. In the Sunni world, there was Saudi Arabia, which used its immense resources to finance the spread of this fanaticism of Wahhabism. But this historical evolution took place within Islam and not outside. When the people of the Islamic State attack, they do it by saying 'Allahu Akbar.' So how can we then say that this has nothing to do with Islam? It must be stopped." — Sir Salman Rushdie, author of the novel The Satanic Verses, who has been hunted to be killed by Muslim extremists for nearly 30 years. Residents of the Paris suburb of Mée-sur-Seine complained that a mosque was blasting prayers on outdoor loudspeakers well...

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)-- A 22-year-old Oakland man has been indicted for allegedly attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization the Islamic State group, U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch and other federal officials said today.The indictment against Amer Sinan Alhaggagi that was issued by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on Thursday alleges that he knowingly attempted to provide services and personnel to ISIS between July and November of 2016 and notes that ISIS was designated a foreign terrorist organization by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014.The indictment alleges that the services Alhaggagi attempted to provide included opening social media accounts for the use, benefit, and promotion of ISIS.
It also alleges three identity theft offenses, two counts of identity theft and one count of aggravated identity theft.Those counts alleged that Alhaggagi used a stolen credit card to make $4,932 in fraudulent...

Is Turkey Becoming Another Iran?by Uzay Bulut • July 20, 2017 at 4:00 am* Evolution will no longer be taught in Turkish secondary schools, after being described as a "controversial subject" by the government.* So, the question naturally arises what exactly will Turkish schoolchildren be taught instead. The answer is "jihad." Turkey is in the process of including the concept of jihad in compulsory school curricula. In eighth grade, jihad will also be taught under the title "Struggling on the Path to Allah: Jihad," under a chapter called "Worshipping Allah."* The Ministry of National Education has also increased class hours for the mandatory course in "religion, culture and morality," and decreased art and philosophy classes to one hour per week.
Turkey has recently been in the news for various developments that include, among other matters, its record number of jailed journalists, the destruction of Kurdish towns and forced displacement of...

by Michael Balsamo
Associated Press
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says security at the nation's ports is a top priority to preventing terrorism.Kelly boarded a Coast Guard cutter in Long Beach on Thursday and watched a new unit conduct a demonstration responding to a mock radiological threat.Members of the Coast Guard descended from helicopters with their rifles drawn and stormed the vessel as part of the exercise. Kelly watched from a deck above as they charged stairwells to search the ship.Kelly says the threat to the nation's ports is "always changing" and the U.S. will continue to train for evolving threats.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Homeland-security-secretary-says-ports-a-11303928.php...

Stars and Stripes
by AP
AUSTIN, Texas — The billions of dollars that Texas has spent on border security in recent years will no longer include a lengthy Texas National Guard deployment.article continues below Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that Guard members who remain on the U.S.-Mexico border will begin taking federal orders this month. The transition comes three years after Texas started using the Guard in a largely surveillance role.Lt. Col. Travis Walters is a spokesman with the Texas Air National Guard. He says about 100 service-members remain on the mission. Walter says the federal government will pay more than $2 million to fund them through September.Abbott signed a new state budget in June that includes spending another $800 million on border security through 2019.
Read more: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/feds-taking-over-texas-national-guard-mission-along-border-1.478762#.WXFYDen_qM9...

by Meira Svirsky
In a move that has become unfortunately typical of Facebook, the social media giant has shut the page of the Counter Jihad Coalition, a group that educates the public on political Islam and exposes the human rights abuses inherent in sharia law.When the notification came that the group had violated the company’s “Community Standards,” they were told that the page would be taken down for just 24 hours. One week later, the page remains closed.Facebook also recently restricted and then shut down the public pages of Ex-Muslim of North America and Atheist Republic, groups that both provide support to those who leave Islam and often face persecution because of it.While Islamists most likely mobilized to get the pages shut down by getting their followers to “flag” pages for violation, it is ultimately up to Facebook to check the claims and make the decision.Meaning, the buck stops with...

By Jack Moore - Newsweek
Canada is investigating reports that two women found by Iraqi security forces in a secret tunnel under the Old City of Mosul, the northern Iraqi former bastion of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), are Canadian.They were part of a 20-strong group of women hiding in the city after Iraqi forces wrested it from ISIS after three years of control. The group was composed of two Canadians, five Germans, three Russians, three Turkish citizens, a Chechen and six Libyans and Syrians, according to reports in the Kurdish press that cited an Iraqi counterterrorism official.The reports said Iraqi forces found the women in a secret tunnel in the Quleiat neighborhood of Mosul. Iraqi counterterrorism expert Haider al-Araji said the females had guns and explosive devices with them in the tunnel.“We are aware of these media reports. Canadian officials are contacting local authorities and gathering additional information,”...

Stephen Tankel - War On The Rocks
“We have wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure in Afghanistan. Their government has zero appreciation. Let’s get out!” That was Donald Trump tweeting in November 2013. Fast forward and President Trump is considering sending 3,000 to 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Although the precise troop numbers and particulars of their deployment are still being mapped out, all indications are that these additional forces would not directly contribute to the counter-terrorism mission. Rather, they would be sent to shore up the Afghan government forces fighting against the Taliban. As the White House reviews the proposed increase, there are numerous questions it should address. Four are paramount.1. Is shoring up the Afghan government forces necessary to enable an ongoing counter-terrorism mission, and, if not, then what U.S. interests are at stake?For the past three years, the U.S. mission in Afghanistan has focused on...

BreakingNews.ie
A security expert has warned that we are hugely under-prepared for a terrorist attack.Former Lieutenant Colonel Michael Murphy says we are lacking intelligence structures and our security systems would not be able to adequately cope.He has made a number of suggestions, including removing the responsibility for state security from the Garda Commissioner and establishing a separate civilian intelligence agency.Speaking at the MacGill Summer School, the security expert said we do not need to wait until there is an attack to figure out where we are failing."It will not take them very long to come to the conclusion that this State's counter-terrorism preparation was grossly negligent," he said."Our current intelligence structures are not fit for purpose."Not alone does this put the lives of our people at risk, but also those of our close neighbour in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe."
Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/security-expert-irelands-counter-terrorism-preparation-grossly-negligent-798297.html...

By Camila DeChalusThe Trump administration issued new economic sanctions against Iran on Tuesday over its ballistic missile program and alleged support of terrorist groups.The new sanctions come a day after the Trump administration warned Iran that it was not following the terms of its nuclear agreement with world powers, according to a statement from U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert."The United States remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malignant activities across the Middle East which undermine regional stability, security, and prosperity," Nauert said. "Iran continues to support terrorist groups such as Hizballah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that threaten Israel and stability in the Middle East."
The sanctions target "18 entities and individuals" that the department claims are "supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program."
Read more: https://www.circa.com/story/2017/07/18/world/us-imposes-new-sanctions-on-iran-over-missile-program...

CNET
by Zoey Chong
Telegram may have escaped Russia's threats to ban it, but in Indonesia that wasn't the case.On Sunday, the founder of the free encrypted messaging app, Pavel Durov, posted on his Telegram channel that the company has removed "all terrorist-related public channels" previously reported by Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and IT.The move comes after Indonesian authorities banned the messaging service on Saturday, citing security concerns over terrorists using it as a communication platform. The ban on Telegram will not affect other social media platforms, according to the statement."The government detects the presence of thousands of communication activities among countries [on Telegram] leading to terrorist activities," President Joko Widodo was quoted as saying in the statement. "There are still thousands [who have] escaped."Durov, however, said he was "unaware" of requests made by the country earlier for it to remove the channels, calling it a "miscommunication.""Telegram is heavily-encrypted and...

Sky News Australia
A top Kurdish counter-terrorism official says he is 99 per cent sure Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive south of the Syrian city of Raqqa, despite reports he has been killed.'Baghdadi is definitely alive. He is not dead. We have information that he is alive. We believe 99 per cent he is alive,' Lahur Talabany told Reuters news agency on Monday.'Don't forget his roots go back to al Qaeda days in Iraq. He was hiding from security services. He knows what he is doing.'The secretive Islamic State leader has frequently been reported killed or wounded since climbing the pulpit of a mosque in Mosul in 2014 and declaring a caliphate with himself the leader of all Muslims.After leading his fighters on a sweep through northern Iraq, Baghdadi attempted to create a self-sustaining modern-day caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.He is now a man on...

DW
The US is aiming to impose aid restrictions on Pakistan. In an interview with DW, analyst Michael Kugelman says if there's one US administration likely to take a hard line against Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.DW: Is the US government finally taking a hard line against Pakistan?Michael Kugelman: A tougher policy is certainly a strong possibility. If there is one US administration likely to take a hard line against Pakistan, it's the Trump administration. Trump projects himself as tough on terror and takes a very principled and strident approach to terror - it needs to be wiped out, wherever it is and in whatever form. It would seem that Trump would have zero patience for Pakistan's policy of going after some terrorists while letting others be.There has been speculation that the US could expand the drone war and cut Pakistan funds. The harshest critics of Pakistan believe that the...